World Trade Organization welcomes newest member China

Published: Sunday, November 11, 2001

Associated Press

DOHA, Qatar (AP)  China achieved what it had worked 15 years for when the World Trade Organization formally approved its membership Saturday, and the world's most populous country immediately threw its massive weight behind efforts to start new talks on liberalizing global trade.

But a consensus on a new round looked almost as distant as it did two years ago in Seattle, as the world's trading heavyweights  the United States, the European Union and Japan  staked out potentially conflicting positions on issues ranging from environmental protection to anti-dumping legislation.

On day two of their five-day meeting, trade ministers from almost all the WTO's 142 members unanimously approved China's application for membership Saturday, bringing the once-isolated communist country  and its 1.2 billion consumers  firmly into the global marketplace.

Taiwan is to be accepted today.

After a round of applause, Chinese Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng said his country will "abide by WTO rules and honor its commitments while enjoying its rights." China will become a full member of the WTO 30 days after its parliament ratifies the agreement and informs the WTO.

Shi added that China supported the WTO's aim to launch a new round of trade liberalization negotiations, as long as the "interests and reasonable requests of developing countries" were given "full consideration."

China's approval occurred as militants hurled Molotov cocktails, bottles and firecrackers at riot police who erected barricades and barbed wire fences in a protective shield around the WTO headquarters in Geneva. The protesters claim the WTO puts business ahead of people and hurts developing countries.

Earlier in Doha, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick signaled to he was not willing to go as far as some developing countries are demanding in one of the hottest disputes: protecting patents on medicines.

Brazil and India are leading a group of countries pushing for a declaration that nothing in WTO agreements stops them from taking action to protect public health.

The United States, Switzerland, Japan and Canada are resisting, arguing that such broad wording could allow countries to override patents on virtually any drug.

"This open-ended language would lead to mass erosion of patent protections  from pharmaceuticals to medical software  and thwart research into medicines that can save lives," Zoellick said.

Developing countries also want the talks to include so-called anti-dumping rules, which industrial nations can use to block imports sold below the market price  usually because of subsidies.

Zoellick reiterated his willingness to consider that, but insisted that "support for further trade liberalization depends on our ability to ensure that a bargain on market access is not undercut by foreign subsidies or other trade-distorting practices," he said.

No progress was reported on another major issue, that of agricultural subsidies.

WTO Director General Mike Moore said no concessions were offered during the first day of talks.

Sharp differences over agriculture between the EU, the United States and big exporting countries known as the Cairns Group contributed to the failure of the last meeting in Seattle two years ago.